Saturday, November 22, 2014

The Circle

Good morning!!! And happy deer hunting season!! A great day to stay inside and write a story . . . rather than take one of my usual walks in the woods . . . wearing my brown coat.

Today marks the end of my thrice-weekly blog posts. I have been writing these stories for exactly two years and I have written . . . well, this will be my 300th story!!

I have enjoyed writing about how I have seen God working in the lives of the people around me. What an honor God has given me by allowing me to watch His handiwork! He is such an amazing God and sometimes, how He works . . . the things He does, simply blow me away.

Not everyone likes some of the things I have said here. That's fine. I don't really care. Well, I kind of do. I write the truth and sometimes the truth hurts. I try to stay true to God's Word and if some people get mad at me for that, so be it. I'm fine with that. The only one I am trying to please here is God, not man.

I am still going to write. I will still write stories for this blog. It's just that they will only be published once each week instead of three times. I love to write. It's a gift from God! If I didn't write it would be like denying God, in my eyes. That is NOT going to happen.

At the same time however, I feel like God wants me to do other things as well. For example, I have been working on a project for about a year now. I have been designing modular housing for those with low, or no, income. Kind of like a Habitat for Humanity thing. I actually will be meeting with them next week to discuss my idea. Pray for that please.

I also will be spending the extra time writing a book. Maybe two. I would like to take these stories and mold them into an actual book, honoring God, through the stories and the lessons - always using scripture. The second book will be a novel, based on the conversion story of a young man, all based on The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The working title for that book is The Path. Surely not a New York Times Best Seller, but more of a story for my grandchildren.

And so I am throttling back on the writing of this blog but I am not going to stop working for Jesus. I know that I have been called. I am a Christian. There is no higher duty than to serve and be obedient to my Lord and King. And that is what I would like to talk to you about today. The importance of obsession in our faith.

I saw a speaker at a Christian men's conference once who used an illustration that I thought was very good. The speaker drew a large circle on the chalkboard and then, outside the circle, he made a dot. Pointing to the big circle he said, "This circle represents our lives. It's where we live. We work here, we eat here, we sleep here. We relax here, we make love here. This is where our friends and family find us. It's where we hang out . . . ALL of the time."

Then he took a few steps to his right an pointed to the dot he had made on the chalkboard. Tapping it with his chalk, he turned to the class and said, "This dot represents why our relationships don't work. The dot is why we commit adultery, it represents the reason we lie, cheat, procrastinate, waste time doing non-productive things. This dot represents all of the struggles we have in our lives, because this dot represents God and His location is outside of our circle."

The speaker went on to say, "The problem with how we live our lives is that most of us are quite content with having God live outside our circle. We like it that way. We feel . . . comfortable. I would submit to you that unless God, this little dot over here, unless God is inside the circle, you are NOT a Christian. You cannot go on living your life as if God is not in the circle. In fact, I would submit to you that God should BE our circle. Our lives should be the dot. A reversal! A Christians life should be totally devoted to God. Everything we do should bring Him honor, and glory and praise. Anything else is a waste."

The speakers words found a place in my heart. It has become more and more obvious to me that the speaker was right. God must consume us. HE must be our all-in-all. There must be nothing else. Jesus told us this Himself!

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'" - Luke 10:27

ALL.

That means everything. Every thought. Every word. Every deed. And this is a command from Jesus, our Lord!

Packer game tomorrow? How is that honoring God? Grocery shipping this afternoon? How will that honor God? Getting drunk in deer camp tonight? How is that honoring God? We must live our lives with God as our circle. And the dot? We should erase it! So there is nothing left on our chalkboard other than The Circle - God.